the tales of hiraeth

the 15 year olds

Harry's POV

We hit the ground hard again but Holli was able to get up and the first thing she noticed was that Flora was gone. There were only nine of us, when there should have been ten.

Holli was frantically searching and I think a few of us got pretty fed up with it, because Kaz had to walk over and calm her down. The two sat on a large rock that was farther down the beach that we had landed on. It wasn't until now that I had noticed that we were laying in the sand. But I had to get back to searching for Flora.

Jelli came running out from the middle of nowhere and began telling us that she found "her." Literally out of nowhere. She tended to do that.

"Where is she Jel?" Holli pleaded. Jelli held out her hand with a snail on it. I rolled my eyes.

"Angelica, that's just a snail," Cole said. But she shrugged and walked away.

I turned around when I heard a faint yell coming from down the beach. The figure came closer and closer into view. I could see that the figure had some kind of blue outfit on. I squinted my eyes to try and see better and then I realized that it was Flora.

"Oh my god!" I screamed. "Where were you?" She placed her hands on her knees to try and catch her breath and help up her finger to signify that she needed a minute.

"Flor are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm- I'm good." She breathed heavily.

"Oh my god!" Holli came running over to where I was standing and she tackled Flora into a hug.

"Bitch, what the hell happened?" Holli asked as the rest of our group began to make their way over to us.

"Oh, you guys were still basically asleep so I decided to get a head start on the tasks. And you won't believe what I-" Oliver cut her off.

"Are you insane! We don't even know where you are and you're off venturing all by yourself! Do you have a death wish or something?" Oliver yelled.

"Yeah, what the hell's up with that Flor?" Kaz joined in.

"We're on a beach! I can protect myself for god's sake! And I don't even want to mention how sexist you all are b-" She was cut off again.

"There are a lot of things wrong with what you did!" Oliver yelled once again.

"Yeah yet you don't seem too worried that Angelica is frollicking in the sand a mile away!" Flora yelled back as she pointed to Jelli, who was now dancing. Oliver and Kaz didn't seem to have a rebuttal for that one.

"Exactly," she said. "Back to what I was saying-"

"The guys seem to have a point, Flor." Holli hesitantly added.

All of the guys smirked knowing that Flora would listen to her. Holli might not like going against her best friend, but if it meant keeping her safe she was all for it.

"Oh yeah and what's that, Hollis?" Flora questioned her.

"All I'm saying is that we don't know much about this place and I really don't think it's safe for you or any of us to go wandering around..."

"Whatever, Hol," Flora turned around and walked in the other direction, carrying the heels that she was wearing during the dance.

The rest of us watched Flora walk off into the direction she had come from before. Sam then walked up to me and bumped my shoulder.

"We can't let her walk off on her own man!"

"Just let her go, she'll come back sooner or later."

Holli's POV

Flora has literally been gone all day and Harry is just sitting here. He was upset with Flora for being so reckless, and so was I. But nobody was doing anything about it. If Flora doesn't come back by nightfall, I'm positive she'll die if she hasn't already.

Thinking about death, I gave in, I had to go find her. I couldn't sit here knowing that my best friend could be dead, and I didn't care if anyone was going to help me or not. I walked over to where Reverie, Devona, and Jelli were sitting.

"Listen," I said. "I'm sneaking off to go find Flora, if you want to come with me-" Holli was cut off.

"What are you doing?" Kaz asked, standing behind me. "Holli, you know that we need to stick together!"

"You can't tell me-" she began.

"Which is why we're coming with you!" Harry finished Kaz's sentence. "I can't stand here knowing my sister is out there somewhere and I'm doing nothing. Plus, I'm super bored."

Flora's POV

Paradise. This is what I had wanted all along, to spend time with me, myself, and I. I never asked to be sucked into these problems and I never asked for 27 people to follow me to hiraeth. But it didn't matter anymore.

I walked into the large beach mansion that I had found when we first got to the beach. This whole place was gorgeous! It had a spa, a fountain, at least 10 bedrooms, and outside was a large pool with a hot tub! And the best part, at least 20 feet away sat a great turquoise ocean!

Inside the mansion, I walked into a room with yellow walls, one of which had banana leaf wallpaper. I walked to the end of the room where there was a large, walk-in closet and I went to the back to find a bathing suit. I was finally able to change out of this dress!

I put on a bandeau bikini with a cute strawberry print on it and a pair of sunglasses I found in the closet. Over my bikini, I put on a loose-fitted white crop top with a small flower detail on the chest. I took my hair out of the braid crown that it was in during homecoming and I let it hang loose over my shoulders in feathered waves. I put on a pair of flip flops by the door and I walked out to the lounge chair partly in the water.

I think I was laying down in the bright sun for almost half an hour when I heard voices down the beach. I sat up and lifted my sunglasses about halfway up my forehead and I saw Holli, Harry, Kaz, Reverie, Devona, Oliver, Cole, Sam, and Jelli, making their way towards me. What are they doing here?! I quietly dismissed them and put my sunglasses back on and laid down.

The first person to arrive near me was Holli, and then everyone filed in a couple seconds after her.

"Thank god you're alright!" Holli tried to catch her breath while hugging me from behind. I looked over at Harry who began to take notice of his surroundings.

"Flora, what is this place?" he said as he looked towards the mansion.

"The beach?" I said unamused.

We walked into the beach mansion and I shut the doors behind me while everyone dispersed themselves throughout the house and marveled at every inch of the house. Reverie and Devona came up to me while I casually sat on the sofa.

"Flor, you knew about this place?" Devona asked excitedly. I nodded my head in response and walked back outside.

I'm pretty sure everyone had found "their" rooms and put on swimsuits because a couple minutes later the guys came running out the doors and immediately jumped into the ocean. The girls came out of the house after fixing themselves up and came and sat by me on the lounge chairs.

---

hey again it's been a hot sec- anyway i don't have many readers, but because i feel like it im gonna talk like i have a lot of readers to listen to my problems...

so im hoping people are enjoying my story, it's been a little rough for me this past week and i use writing as a stress reliever, but im writing so much that it's getting a little complicated

i started a new story and im the editor-in-chief of my schools' newspaper; on top of that i run varsity track and im in a show, and they might kick me off of the team if i keep missing practice to be at the show's rehearsals

im used to being busy like this but the stress... well not so much

anybody have any ways to deal?

au revior